How many of you in Britain have seen this bird of prey? If you have you are a lucky bunch as unfortunately it’s not often sighted nowadays. It is a shy bird and prefers to hunt up on the high moorland and mountainous areas. It is our smallest falcon but more than makes up for its size with courage, and effective hunting skills, focussing mainly on smaller birds.

This is my first attempt at a bird of prey, apart from the Little owl and it was a bit more of a challenge for me. As usual all paper with a paper mache modelled body, paper feathers, and metal wire & paper coated talons all finished off with painted details.

The distinctive markings on its chest and other feathers require an accurate attention to detail whilst finishing the piece off with paint to give it it’s distinctive look. The beak is curved and designed to rip flesh to shreds, and those yellow talons are impressive on a relatively small bird and more than up to the job in hand. The large eyes on the side of its head are designed for almost 360 degree radius vision and miss little. A keen mean killing machine!

When I finished and mounted it, Dave said he had a double take at it when he came in and said it had real impact. I think that is a compliment.

Of course you can check out my other birds by clicking on the Etsy shop link at the top of the page.